Sunday, February 15, 2009

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:34

What a commandment! Divine love is immeasurable, yet Jesus tells me to love as He loved. Can I measure up? Probably not. But does that excuse me? Definitely not! "As I have loved you" is agape love, "in spite of" the recipient rather than "because of." It is a gentle love, but a tough love, too. It has to survive rejection and ridicule, meanness and miserliness. There are those around me who's personalities prick and prod me, whose sharp corners sometimes "scratch and dent" me. If all Christians were angelic (and I was too), it would be quite easy to "love one another"--but since they aren't, and I'm not, I will have to work at loving. Lord, let me be patient instead of proud, forgiving instead of spiteful, kind instead of cruel, loving instead of hateful.

4 comments:

Love and forgiveness, such important parts of our faith!! Blessings on your day.Have fun with the Irish. We are going to church and then have to pick up an item or two at the "depot" to finish our projects. We used the loctite on the cake plate and it worked great so far :0)Have a lovely day and you'll have to tell me how those Irish treat you and if the fare is truly good Irish fare...